Microsoft confirms it will launch a new version of its Planner app in spring 2024

A couple of weeks ago, a video found its way on the interwebs that allegedly showed Microsoft was working on a major new version of its Microsoft Planner to-do app. Today, as part of its Microsoft Ignite 2023 developers conference, the company announced it was indeed working on a revamp of the Planner app.

Microsoft stated the new Planner app is actually going to mash up the company's To Do app and Microsoft Project for the web, in addition to the current Planner app "into a single, unified experience" with the Microsoft Planner name. Tasks by Planner and To Do app in Microsoft Teams will be renamed as Planner. Microsoft Project for the web will also get the new Planner name sometime over the coming months, but will still be available with its current set of features.

The blog post stated:

The new Planner experience will scale easily from collaborative task management to robust project management, empowering everyone, from information workers to frontline workers to project managers, so they can manage their work in one place and accelerate business outcomes with AI-enabled capabilities.

Some of the new Planner features will include:

• The ability to easily find tasks, so users can focus on the tasks they need to get done today.  
• Helping users work the way they want. Whether for individual tasks or team initiatives, Planner will enable them to choose the approach that’s best for their needs.
• Creating project plans with powerful scheduling and resourcing tools. As plans evolve, Planner will offer a menu of capabilities to meet unique business needs.
• Copilot in Planner will help users get started with a plan faster with simple prompts and as the plan evolves, it will add goals and intelligently suggest new tasks to help keep users informed on progress.

The new Planner app will launch in Microsoft Teams sometime in the spring 2024. The new Planner web service will launch sometime later in the future, but currently has no specific time frame for its release.

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